We survived and it cost us our culture (temporarily).

When you’re bleeding out, values become optional. That’s the uncomfortable truth.

For two years, my business was in a state of crisis.

Real financial pressure. The kind where if you don’t solve the money problem, there is no business. And then there’s no culture, no product, no customer experience… nothing.

And in that period, our priorities shifted.

We went from being a values-driven organisation to being an outcomes-driven organisation.

Not because we stopped believing in our values. Because we were in triage.

Before crisis, we could afford to be idealistic

We prioritised culture, product quality, and customer experience above all.

Even above finance.

We sold things customers loved that didn’t make us money.

We threw hands at problems and opportunities, which inflated wages.

We tolerated inefficiency because the mission felt bigger than the numbers.

Honestly, we wore that like a badge.

But in crisis, we had to become ruthless (or die).

So we did what we had to do.

Employee headcount was reduced.
Inefficient products were deleted or priced properly.
Processes were documented, streamlined, and budgeted for.
Financial results moved to priority #1.

Because if we didn’t fix that, the story ended.

Here’s the part I didn’t fully understand at the time:

When outcomes become the only thing rewarded, values don’t just slip. They get traded.

Under pressure, we started rewarding people who got outcomes… even if they got them the wrong way.

People who bulldozed.
People who were a bit of a jerk.
People who didn’t consult other managers.
But they got us the results we needed. So they got more decision-making power.

We overlooked behaviour that ran counter to our culture because the scoreboard looked better.

And that is a fucking dangerous game.

Because you don’t just reward outcomes.

You reward the methods. And methods become culture.

The cultural damage

What makes this so tricky is, it’s hard to spot when you’re in the weeds.

Mid last year, once we emerged out the other side still standing (and stronger operationally), the cultural impact started to reveal itself.

It wasn’t obvious in the moment, but in hindsight it’s clear:

less cooperation, more politics
friction inside the management team
side discussions instead of a good debate
confusion about direction and who makes the call
We had built a tighter machine… but we’d weakened the glue.

This is where founders beat themselves up. Don’t do that.

The easy story to tell yourself is:

“We failed our values” or “Maybe we were never values-driven at all”.

But I don’t think that’s true.

I think something more honest is true:

Living by your values in crisis is really fucking hard. Maybe impossible.

I’ve never had to fight for my life in the literal sense. I’ve never had to resort to cannibalism to survive on a deserted island.

But I know enough about humans to believe this: Circumstances can shift your values (at least for a moment).

And that doesn’t automatically make you a fraud.

It makes you a human trying to preserve life.

The triage analogy

In triage, the priority is not comfort.

The priority is keeping the patient alive.

Even if the treatment goes against your preferences.

Even if it leaves damage you’ll need to deal with later.

Even if it goes against your beliefs.

My business was bleeding out. So we preserved life above all else.

And only once the patient was going to live… did we have the chance to deal with what the treatment cost us.

Here’s the part that matters if you’re a founder reading this:

Survival-mode behaviour doesn’t have to become your identity.

Crisis can force unusual behaviour. Just because priorities shifted in triage, doesn’t mean that’s now who you are. Or who your organisation is.

When you’re no longer in crisis, you have the privilege of living by your values again and making decisions with them as priority #1.

That’s where we are now.

And even though I don’t love the pain and problems we’re still cleaning up, I don’t think I would have done it differently.

I think we made the right call then.

And I also think it’s the right call now to consciously switch the reward structure back to values-driven leadership.

If you’re coming out of a hard year or crappy season, don’t just “hope the culture recovers.”

Make a deliberate correction.

1) Name what happened (without politics or drama).

“We went into survival mode. Outcomes became the only scoreboard. Some behaviours were tolerated that don’t belong here going forward.”

2) Re-rank the priorities publicly.

Say it clearly: values are back at #1. Results still matter, but not at the expense of how we get them.

3) Redefine what gets rewarded.

Stop promoting the bulldozers. Stop giving power to people who win while leaving (values) wreckage behind them.

4) Clean up the ‘decision rights’ mess.

Crisis creates shortcuts. Shortcuts create confusion. Re-clarify who owns what, who decides what, and what “good collaboration” looks like.

5) Rehire your standards.

Culture doesn’t recover by speeches. It recovers by enforcing standards in real moments. Especially when it’s awkward.

But don’t be so f**king hard on yourself.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I compromised who I am through Covid or that last tough year,” here’s a more useful question:

Did you do what was required to keep the patient alive?

If yes, good.

You now get to decide to fix something else. In the case - you get to rebuild what was bent under pressure.

That’s leadership. That's running a business. That's life.

I hope it strikes a chord with you as much as it has with me writing it.

Take care and have a great week.